Boulder County, Colo. – The Long-Term Flood Recovery Group (LTFRG) has opened a phone line and website for anyone in Boulder or Broomfield counties seeking assistance related to unmet needs from September’s flood. Residents needing help are encouraged to fill out the very short contact form on the website or call the hotline number to leave a brief message. Volunteer members of the group will be returning residents’ messages to do an initial intake interview which will place residents in group’s system. Case managers will be assigned over the next several weeks to residents in need and act as a guide to available resources in the county and work with residents to develop a recovery plan. The LTFRG is volunteer-based and is in a start up phase, so patience is requested of the community while the process is developed and streamlined.

The LTFRG is charged with managing and distributing the Foothills Flood Relief Fund and also is working to secure additional donations. Donations can be made to the Fund which is housed at Foothills United Way, at www.unitedwayfoothills.org.

As the rebuilding and recovery phase proceeds, people in our community will need many resources, not all of which will be financial. The LTFRG will identify continuing needs for assistance and the process for allocating resources to ensure the long-term recovery of our whole community. Non-financial resources may include donations of critical products, volunteer construction crews, housing re-construction and repair assistance and supporting community visioning and planning processes. Ultimately, the goal is to support as many people who were affected by the September floods as possible.

By Rob Katz and David Friedman

Three months ago, historic flooding swept through homes and lives throughout Boulder County. In the last 14 weeks, our community has been in a state of rebuilding, but many still remain displaced and hurting from major flood-related losses and damages. It is the mission of the newly-formed Long-Term Flood Recovery Group (LTFRG) to address these challenges and as best as possible, address every resident’s unmet needs.

Our new partnership was created to raise and distribute long-term financial and material flood relief and recovery resources throughout the county from the Foothills Flood Relief Fund. People who still need assistance will be encouraged to access the Fund’s resources and support.

Immediately following September’s flooding, millions of dollars and thousands of volunteers provided relief and recovery for Boulder County residents and businesses in an amazing show of community support. While the emergency phase has passed, the needs have not. The LTFRG will focus on the long-term needs, some of which we do not even know about yet. We are continuing to work hard to raise funds to meet these needs. To date, we have raised over $3.7 million, of which just over $1 million has already been distributed. We know that far more will be needed. During this holiday season, please consider a donation to the Foothills Flood Relief fund at unitedwayfoothills.org. Fully 100 percent of your donation will go to help those who have been impacted by the floods.

In mid-November, the LTFRG convened for the kick-off meeting with more than 120 people lending their skills and resources from across Boulder County. The group is a partnership between local and county governments, non-profit organizations, faith communities and local and regional businesses. Planning and organizing has been ongoing to ensure the group’s structures are solid, its leadership representative, and its membership diverse.

As the rebuilding and recovery phase proceeds, people in our community will need many resources, not all of which will be financial. The LTFRG will identify continuing needs for assistance and the process for allocating resources to ensure for the long-term recovery of our whole community. The non-financial resources may range from donation of critical products, to volunteer construction crews to supporting community visioning and planning processes. If you want to become more involved, whether to volunteer your time or to donate resources and ideas, don’t hesitate to contact the LTFRG at floodrecovery@unitedwayfoothills.org.

We ask that everyone remember that it takes time to fully recover from a disaster of this scale. The LTFRG is here to focus on our long-term needs and ensure that we rebuild from the damage in a collaborative way. We want to ensure that our whole community is involved and that we don’t leave anyone behind. To do that, we ask for everyone’s support, engagement and patience. Working together we can come back from this disaster stronger, better and ready for the future. Again, please consider a year-end gift to help: unitedwayfoothills.org.

For some Boulder County nonprofits, November and December typically are the largest donation months of the year.

This holiday giving season, however, might be anything but typical.

The historic floods that ravaged Boulder County and surrounding areas in September resulted in individuals, organizations and businesses providing an outpouring of support — including millions of dollars in cash donations — to help those affected.

Since then, the floods and the subsequent community support continue to have varying effects in the local nonprofit industry. Some agencies reported a rise in contributions to their general and annual campaigns, while others attributed lower-than-expected donations to “donor fatigue,” or people falling off in their financial support after a disaster such as the flood.

“I have not noticed a dip in giving; if anything, we have noticed quite the opposite,” said Lisa Searchinger, executive director of Longmont-based Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement, or HOPE. “I think when it comes to agencies that are meeting basic needs, people may be prioritizing their giving.

“They might be making a tough choice with their giving dollars after an event such as the flood.”

Searchinger knows that all too well. Her family had to make financial adjustments after being flooded.

“Personally, our annual giving capacity has been impacted as well,” she said. “We’ve prioritized to give to those agencies that are dealing with basic needs, absolutely.”

The devastating floods only exacerbated those needs, she said. HOPE saw a spike in clientele immediately following the floods and has experienced increased requests for assistance as time goes on and certain federal programs become exhausted.

While other nonprofits saw similar upticks in need, the resources from the outside came in shorter supply for some.

When Community Food Share’s annual “Let’s Bag Hunger” food drive fell short of its goal of 85,000 pounds by nearly 16 percent, the nonprofit attributed the drop to factors such as competing food drives and donor fatigue following the floods in Boulder County. At Longmont’s Meals on Wheels organization, which provides home-delivered meals to the elderly and others needing assistance, cash donations dropped.

“Our holiday giving is down this year,” Karla Hale, executive director of Longmont Meals on Wheels, wrote in an email. “We received numerous donations from regular and new donors for the work we did during the flood, and those donations are being used for the services provided at that time. Some of those same donors have given to our annual appeal, but our monetary donations are down from last year.”

If area residents are more cash-strapped this time of year, they might be taking other steps to help others, HOPE’s Searchinger said. Her agency has seen an increase in the number of people volunteering during the past couple of months and through the beginning of the holiday season.

Finding new donors

Flood-relief donations have surpassed $15 million statewide, the Denver Post recently reported. In Boulder County, Foothills United Way, which established a fund specifically for flood relief, has raised $3.8 million, a figure that grows daily, said Doug Yeiser, president and chief executive officer.

The flood donations for the local United Way came from 4,200 individual donors, many of whom live out of state or across the globe, Yeiser said.

“Part of the response you see is worldwide, which shouldn’t cause any donor fatigue,” he said. “I think the biggest risk here is that people that normally would give were affected.”

To drum up additional support for operating funds, nonprofits should take a proactive role after disasters such as this, he said.

“You do have to make some heroic efforts to reach new people — people that aren’t traditional givers,” he said. “That’s an important part of it.”

Boulder resident Joseph Logan sought out benefits and fundraisers to assist flood-recovery efforts and modified his Christmas shopping plans this year to support locally based businesses. Logan said he plans to give gift baskets of Boulder-made products to friends and family across the United States.

He also plans to continue making donations during the holiday season — likely doing so on Tuesday for Colorado Gives Day, an initiative aimed at spurring philanthropy across the state. Logan estimates that the amount he puts toward charitable giving this year is about 20 percent higher than last year.

“My main worry with the floods was always it was going to be in the news for a week then out of people’s view,” he said. “This is clearly a multi-year effort to rebuild.

“I think it’s important to give. I think it’s important to know what you’re giving to. I think it’s important to volunteer and support the businesses that support the community.”

Increased needs

Colorado Gives Day, a program of the Community First Foundation, raised $15.7 million for a wide variety of Colorado nonprofits last year through the website coloradogives.org.

The initiative raised $12.8 million in 2011 and $8.7 million the year before.

Dana Rinderknecht, director of online giving for the Arvada-based Community First Foundation, said she expects 2013′s totals to surpass last year’s $15.7 million mark.

Pre-scheduled donations are up 50 percent from 2012, she said, adding that she also has seen a rise in activity and engagement among nonprofits — especially on social media — in the weeks leading up to this year’s event. Corporate contributions also remain on pace, she said.

“If you think about it, as horrible as this summer was, last summer had similar issues around it,” she said, referencing wildfires that raged across the state. “I think people give to disasters but then at the end of the year, they look at giving to the nonprofits they love.”

Of the 1,400 nonprofits participating in this year’s Colorado Give Day Campaign, several are focusing their fundraising efforts during the 24-hour online giving event on their own flood relief, she said, noting some organizations sustained damaged to properties or resources from the flood waters.

Colorado Gives Day serves as a “key” fundraising element for the Sister Carmen Community Center, a Lafayette nonprofit that runs a food bank and offers financial assistance and classes, said Suzanne Crawford, the organization’s CEO.

The nonprofit thus far is on track to meet its annual fundraising goal, but the winter months remain a critical fundraising time frame, she said.

“We did fairly well in November,” she said. “December is usually the biggest month for us. At this point, it’s probably too early to tell if we’ll have a good holiday season overall.”

The Emergency Family Assistance Association — which provides food, assistance and emergency shelter to those in Boulder and Broomfield counties — saw a sharp increase in both donations and demand for services after the flood, said Marissa Hallo Tafura, EFAA’s associate director of marketing and development.

In addition to devoting more resources to continue supporting flood victims, EFAA now is trying to navigate the after-effects of federal cuts to food stamps and food aid programs, she said. In addition to lower-income residents having less money for food, EFAA’s food bank will no longer receive 30,000 pounds of food — primarily grains and staples — that were provided annually by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Foothills United Way’s Yeiser said he hopes that community members who have retained the generous community spirit shown after the flood would be receptive to continue to support others who are less fortunate.

“Some of the needs were already here and some of the needs produced by the floods are not going away anytime soon,” he said. “… The biggest concern of mine is that the needs have really grown (and) have really increased astronomically.”

In response to this article, I’d like to add some context. I am vice chair for Foothills United Way’s board of directors and have been following the progress for the Foothills Flood Relief Fund’s short- and long-term recovery plans.

We have a very generous community and received a show of support from around the country.

The story stated that there is $2.7 million in the Foothills Flood Relief Fund and millions more collectively in other entities while thousands of Coloradans are still displaced and living in damaged homes. The article does a disservice to the Long-Term Flood Recovery Group and the overall efforts because it makes it appear as though the resources are not being distributed in a timely manner.

To the contrary; the fund helped with some immediate needs and is now meant to be a “long-term” fund for those needs that still exist after the other sources have been exhausted. The disaster recovery experts advise that the most effective way to help people after the initial crisis has passed is to assess the scope of the devastation before allocating these dollars.

We know that the reported flood fund of $11.4 million is not close to the amount needed to bring our community back to wholeness. Our community partners, government, public and private sectors, and individuals serving on the Long-Term Flood Recovery Group have an ethical duty to make strategic, informed decisions on spending to maximize the existing money.

They will do this by leveraging more money from national sources, aligning volunteer groups with recovery efforts, and enabling individuals to receive expert recovery and rebuilding services to help the greatest number of people move toward recovery.

We invite the community to stay interested, stay involved, and stay committed to rebuilding our communities with us.

Edie Ortega of Lafayette is on the board of directors for the Foothills United Way.